Annual Report 2021

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Comments from our CEO

“In summary, 2021 was an exceptional year for AutoStore – with significant growth and a record-high order intake. Thanks to our proven expansion strategy, strong demand across regions, end markets, and warehouse categories, we see significant opportunities for growth acceleration going forward,” says Karl Johan Lier, Chief Executive Officer of AutoStore.

AutoStore delivered revenue of USD 327.6 million in 2021, up 79.8% from 2020, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 48.4%. The order intake increased by 158.6% to USD 620.9 million at the end of 2021, driven by a significant shift and acceleration in e-commerce penetration.

“The impressive growth is the result of hard work by our team and partners and illustrates the potential of our significant, underdeveloped target market, in which we expect continued high demand. Key market drivers include a strong macro-economic backdrop of rising warehouse costs and productivity pressure, accelerating e-commerce growth, a need for supply chain resiliency, and labor shortages,” Lier adds.

Report Highlights

Revenue (USD million)
327.6

AutoStore continued its exceptional growth story – underlined by 79.8% revenue growth from 2020.

Adjusted EBITDA margin*
48.4%

Delivered strong adjusted EBITDA margin* despite increased raw material prices following global supply chain issues.

Order intake (USD million)
620.9

Order intake increased by 158.6% from 2020, driven by a significant shift and acceleration in e-commerce penetration.

* Refer to the Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) section on page 218 in the Annual Report 2021 for further details of the adjustment items.

Growth Strategy

The AutoStore strategy builds on its competitive strengths and provides a framework for strong growth in the years ahead. The company plans to invent, design, market, and promote innovative technologies and software to expand usage of the AutoStore system in existing and newly addressable markets.

The automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) market is growing rapidly as a result of several underlying global megatrends that are ultimately driven by warehouse owners’ demand for automated facilities. The favorable trends driving market growth include growing e-commerce, increasing automation, changing customer demand, and an enhanced sustainability focus.

The addressable AS/RS market currently totals approximately USD 230 billion, including approximately USD 160 billion linked to light AS/RS systems – an AutoStore specialism. Approximately 85% of warehouses in the light AS/RS market (USD 135 billion) have yet to be automated, leaving significant room for growth.

AutoStore anticipates that these strategies will bring further growth capacity, shorter delivery times, and increased supplier diversification. Key strategic priorities include:

  • 01
    Penetrating new markets
  • 02
    Increasing WMS revenue
  • 03
    Product innovation
  • 04
    Expanding in APAC and North America
  • 05
    Increasing offerings through M&A
Annual Report 2021
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Sustainability

On our mission to impact the world’s sustainability through our world-class solutions. We believe our products and solutions will help our customers and partners meet their goals for a more sustainable world and that AutoStore – through our wide network of partners – can make a strong impact on our world's path to a more sustainable future.

At AutoStore, we regard sustainability measurement, management, and reporting as long-term value drivers that help build resilience across the business. Ongoing identification and addressing of sustainability issues is a key aspect of delivering on our value creation strategy.

We started our sustainability reporting journey last year, issuing first-ever sustainability report for AutoStore. On April 28, we published our second sustainability report, addressing key topics including business ethics, working environment, and the environment.

Sustainability Report
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